The Rockies are a dumpster fire right now. As I write this, Colorado is 3-7 and about to jump into another Dodgers series. Gulp. Yea, things are probably going to get pretty bad. Watching “Nolan being Nolan” with St. Louis isn’t helping matters much. Last week he hit a two-run HR in the 8th to give the Cardinals a 3-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Meanwhile the Rockies got swept by San Francisco and watched their bats go silent in key moments. So far, Nolan is doing quite well in the break up; He’s out living his best life while the Rockies and its fans stay up late after one too many, a giant bowl of ice cream and singing along to the latest Taylor Swift album (she still sings about breakups and stuff right?) And why wouldn’t they be sad, depressed, jealous and even a bit scornful? Nolan was on his way to being the greatest Rockie in the teams short history but instead he is hitting homeruns and making incredible defensive plays for someone else.
On the Rockies all time list, Arenado is 6th in hits, 5th in doubles, 9th in triples and 4th in homeruns with 235. Considering he’s likely only played half of his career, it would have been safe to assume he was on his way to breaking a few of those records. Nolan didn’t just simply earn a nickname like other Rockies greats, instead he warranted his own saying; How many times have we heard, read, said or tweeted “Nolan being Nolan”? He was a part of perhaps the Rockies most successful stretch when they appeared in back to back playoff contests for the first and only time in Rockies history. But it wasn’t enough. Or it was too much. Depending on who you ask: Nolan or Bridich.
Even after that glorious sunny day when GM Jeff Bridich, owner Dick Monfort and Nolan sat together to announce the long term contract where it seemed Colorado was finally prepared to do something in the National League and maybe even give the Dodgers a run for their money. Yes, all was good for a second or two. The Rockies got their guy locked up, (pesky opt out clause after 3 years but sure, he’s our guy for life) they just came off of a playoff season where they beat the Cubs in a wildcard game and fan support was rising almost to Rocktober status. But the very next season spelled disaster for the fellas in purple as they went 71-91. And just like that, the rumor mill began. Nolan wasn’t happy, The Rockies weren’t doing enough to be a contender, Bridich and Nolan hate each other and on and on it went. Never mind the fact that in 2018, the year before Arenado’s shiny new deal, according to MLB.com Bridich was labeled as one of most active general managers during THAT particular hot stove season. The Rockies, at the time, invested $106 million in their bullpen via free agency signing Bryan Shaw, Wade Davis and resigning Jake McGee. Ultimately, those guys didn’t work out but on paper, it was a solid move that I think any baseball expert would have signed off on. Then, a year later, Nolan signed his deal. The bullpen moves didn’t work out and none were perhaps more frustrated about that than Arenado. Then Covid hit which spelled another disaster for Colorado, only winning 26 of the 60 game oddball season. Nolan was done. But apparently the last 2 losing seasons were not the deciding factor? At least, not according to new teammate and stud pitcher Adam Wainwright.
“The last year or two, (Arenado) would send me videos when he was trying to get traded over here,” Wainwright mentioned after Nolan’s Curtain Call last week. “He would say, ‘Hey, show this to Mo,’” Wainwright mentioned. “And he would be, in the middle of the offseason, taking ground balls down the third-base line and doing his little jump throw from almost the dugout, making a perfect throw, one after another after another.”
The last year…or TWO? Sure, we can all get caught up stretching or shortening a timeline, especially in the COVID era, but to me, that’s a big stretch. In a February press conference held by Dick Monfort and Jeff Bridich to address the Nolan trade, Monfort acknowledged that Nolan wanted out 9 months after the deal was done.
“In 2019, we signed Nolan to, what I would call, a career contract,” Monfort told reporters. “Nine months later, Nolan asked us to look for a trade.” Just 9 months. Even without Wainright’s comments, 9 months after a career contract was signed seems a bit….impatient.
So in the end, what choice did the Rockies have? Sure, they could have, probably, gotten a better deal. One where they didn’t send $51 million along with their beloved franchise player. But after 2020, perhaps teams weren’t in a hurry to take on such a monster contract….or at least all of it.
I know I have been labeled a Bridich apologist but trust me, after 2018, I wasn’t all that impressed with his management decisions either. Add in his arrogant nature when talking to the media and he’s downright unpleasant. But just a few of years ago, he was being boosted in media outlets like the Denver Post.
“It’s past time for me to give General Manager Jeff Bridich and his front office credit for the Rockies’ impressive start.” Rockies insider and outstanding writer Patrick Saunders wrote in the Denver Post on May 13th, 2017.
I get it. Much like SB 50 doesn’t give John Elway the ultimate hall pass, a couple of playoff seasons certainly can’t save Bridich for long. I’m not really here to say he is a good GM. He’s not. As of 4/13/2021, he’s one of the worst in the league and rightfully so. He has made some good moves, bad moves and good moves that turned out to be bad moves. Lately, the bad moves are pushing the good moves into a little dark corner no one talks about. It’s a recipe for what we call in the business as “not very good.”
In the end, the Rockies didn’t live up to Nolan’s expectations. And Nolan proved to be too needy for Bridich to swallow his pride and mend the fence (if it could have ever been mended.)
Now, we are stuck begging for this pitching staff to perform to prove that the Rockies really do care. That the Rockies can still be good even without one of the greatest. Or, like some, maybe most, you simply stopped caring. Time to load up on the Ice cream Rockies fans….it’s gonna be a rough season.
